The Council of Grand Justices, the nation's highest court, ruled yesterday that a recently created media watchdog agency, the National Communications Commission (NCC), is unconstitutional.
The grand justices announced specifically that Article Four of the Organic Law of the National Communications Commission (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) is unconstitutional.
However, they also decided that all decisions made by the commission before yesterday remain valid.
In addition, the council gave the commission members a grace period, saying that the legislature must amend the organic law by Dec. 31, next year.
VALID TERMS
In the meantime, NCC members' three-year terms remain valid if they do not resign.
"Members of the commission are all well-known academics, but their being assigned to current posts is unconstitutional," Minister without Portfolio Hsu Chih-hsiung (
"In addition to urging the legislature to amend the organic law immediately, we also hope that our respected members resign, out of respect for the Constitution," he said.
Along with the request for the constitutional interpretation, the Cabinet also filed a request to temporarily suspend the commission. But the ruling that the NCC is unconstitutional renders such a request irrelevant.
The grand justices said that the law interfered with the Cabinet's exercise of power.
"Basically, grand justices believed that Article Four has usurped the Cabinet's authority as the nation's top administrative government office, which is protected by the Constitution," said Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Fan Kuang-chun (范光群).
The Cabinet filed a request for a constitutional interpretation on Jan. 20 because it believed that Article Four and Article 16 of the law were unconstitutional.
COMMISSION SET-UP
Article Four stipulates that of the 18 seats of the commission, political parties will "recommend" 15 nominees. These 15 had to be apportioned based on the ratio of the parties' legislative seats, which meant the major party in the legislature would have more seats on the commission.
The premier selected the final three nominees. All 18 nominees were required to gain the approval of a nomination committee.
Article 16 regulated that any punishment meted out to media organizations prior to the commission's establishment could be reconsidered upon appeal.
Meanwhile, NCC Chairman Su Yeong-ching (
"Its logic is erroneous and intolerable," Su said.
He said the interpretation assumed that nominees could be influenced by the party that nominated them, an argument he said had no evidence to back it up.
JUSTICES CRITICIZED
"Many justices serving on the Council [of Grand Justices] were recommended by either political parties or non-government organizations," Su said. "Most important, the judges are nominated by the president. So can we also infer from these facts that those judges will be affected by political parties, and will thereby lose the trust of the people?"
Su said that the NCC members have all exercised their independent judgment in reviewing every case they have handled since the NCC began operations.
Su said the nine remaining NCC members -- nine others have already resigned -- would decide on Monday whether to stay on.
The commission has been under a lot of criticism recently for its inefficiency in review cases.
Also see story:
Parties beg to differ on grand justices' NCC interpretation
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS